The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Awareness Center, In. sponsored the first Jewish Survivors of Sexual Abuse Speak Out in Borough Park, NY. In attendance was survivors of various Jewish backgrounds and also survivors of other faiths. It was an extremely powerful and powerful evening for all.

Part 1 - Vicki Polin who is the founder and director of The Awareness Center is featured.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Baltimore survivors coalition is starting a public awareness campaign
this week to break the silence about the sexual abuse of children within
Jewish communities.

The Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse, an international network
based out of the Awareness Center in Baltimore, is organizing a series
of "speak outs," that are aimed at allowing suppressed survivors of
sexual abuse to educate others through their stories. The speak outs
start Monday in Brooklyn, N.Y., and will begin in Baltimore Feb. 8.

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer

Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer speaks at the Glen Avenue Shul.

The coalition also wants local rabbis to implement "safety plans" to
protect children from registered sex offenders who are attending
services at their synagogues unbeknownst to parents. However, some
community members said outing a convicted sex offender is unjust to the
offender who already has been punished through the court system.

Cantor Stuart Friedman - Convicted Sex Offender

The coalition recently faced a backlash from Rabbi Yaakov Hopfer, who
refuses to notify members of his Glenn Avenue Shul that they attend
services with Cantor Stuart Friedman, 54, a registered sex offender in
Maryland. Friedman spent time in federal prison for participating in an
international child porn ring.

The coalition asked Hopfer to notify parents within the Eruv of
Baltimore that Friedman resides in the 6000 block of Clover Road. The
coalition also asked to create a special service excluding children
under the age of 21, so Friedman can pray "without being tempted," said
Vicki Polin, the Awareness Center spokeswoman.

"We don't think our demands are outrageous, because this is someone
who's aroused by children. He's dangerous," said Polin, who added that
the Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse has "a few thousand members."

Polin said she worries that Friedman could endanger children, possibly
by photographing them, if he is not escorted in the synagogue.

The coalition contacted Hopfer with its demands, but "he just slammed down the phone," Polin said.

Hopfer encourages victims to report abuse to a rabbi instead of police,
Polin said, and uses the Holocaust to illustrate that "reporting another
Jew will bring on more hatred to the Jewish community."

"It's like the Catholic Church all over, but not as large," she said.
"They encourage people to come to them rather than authorities, but they
don't have education or training in how to handle these things."

Hopfer was reluctant to discuss Polin's allegations in a phone
interview, saying he "refuses to cooperate" with the coalition because
"they're irresponsible people."

"This is opening up something that I don't want to speak about," he
said. When asked if he notified his synagogue of Friedman's criminal
record, Hopfer said, "I can only say that we've done everything possible
to be responsible, caring people."

Hopfer also denied ever referencing the Holocaust to encourage members
of his synagogue to report abuse to a rabbi rather than authorities.

"I've been accused of many things and these allegations don't mean a thing," he said.

Hopfer said he wrote a letter to the community about a year ago
"acknowledging that such things exist and people should speak with a
professional or a rabbi and sometimes police," but he would not provide a
copy of the letter.

"We encourage people to go to the police, and also speak with a rabbi if
they need to, because this is a person who has committed a crime and
could be dangerous," he said.

Friedman's neighbor, who was too scared to give her name because she
also attends the Glen Avenue Shul, said the coalition's demands would
only tarnish Friedman's reputation.

"I think the Awareness Center should be going after people who are
actually molesting children and not someone who just looked at things on
the computer," she said.

Friedman told The Examiner he had no comment.

He has lived in the Orthodox Jewish Baltimore community since May 2007
when he finished a 15-month sentence in federal prison for sending
pornography through the mail to an undercover FBI agent in California,
according to a March 1999 Los Angeles Times story.

Before that conviction, Friedman was arrested in Nova Scotia, Canada,
where he was a cantor at Beth Israel Synagogue leading prayers and
teaching children Hebrew lessons.

Canadian authorities suspected Friedman had participated in an
international child porn ring, and raided his residence in September
1996 where they found him seated at his computer downloading child
pornography from the Internet, according to newspaper reports in the
Daily News in Hailfax, Nova Scotia.

Police seized hundreds of images, and dozens of videos depicting
children, some as young as 8 years old, performing sexual acts,
according to the Daily News.

Canadian authorities said no evidence existed that indicated Friedman
was physically involved with children in the synagogue or in the
material seized.

He pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography and received a $2,000
fine before he was deported to the United States and arrested on federal
child porn charges.

Friedman stood trial in Los Angeles and could have faced up to 15 years,
but his attorney, Marcia Brewer, successfully argued the punishment
down to 15 months in prison and three years of probation, according to
the Awareness Center.

Brewer also persuaded the judge to remove the requirement that Friedman
disclose his child-pornography conviction to parents of anyone younger
than 18 with whom he has contact because the pornography didn't include
boys younger than 12, according to the Awareness Center.

Brewers argued that the pornography Friedman mailed to the FBI agent only depicted boys over the age of 12.

Friedman, who was listed as noncompliant for more than a year on the
Maryland Sex Offender Registry, is now considered in compliance.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The stories Rabbi Rosenberg is sharing are very similar to the stories The Awareness Center has heard coming out of Baltimore, MD; Lakewood, NJ, Monsey, NY; Melbourne, Australia; and various locations in Israel.

Part 7 -11 will be posted soon

Recorded on January 11, 2009

Part 1 - Children Being Sexually Abused in Jewish Schools

Part 2 - Problems in Advocating For Sexually Abused Children in Brooklyn

Part 3 - Fighting Against Sexual Abuse in the Orthodox World of Brooklyn

Part 4 - Witness Tampering of Survivors of Sexual Abuse and those Who Advocate For Them

Part 5 - Sex Offenders and Prison

Part 6 - Talks About 14-Year-Old Girl Who Was Sexually Assaulted

Part 7 - Educating Children About Sexual Abuse

Part 8 - Changes Needed to End Sexual Abuse in Borough Park and Williamsburg

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

The Awareness Center, Inc. and Child Victims Voice of Maryland co-sponsored an event on November 26, 2008 in which Rabbi Nochem Rosenberg talked about his experiences of advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse in the ultra orthodox communities of Borough Park/Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY)

Jewish Survivors of sexual violence rarely are provided an opportunity to speak out against the heinous crimes committed against them as children or as adults. This educational event is designed to give those who have been victimized the opportunity to educate our community on the issues, ramiﬁcations and offer support to others who have been touched by sexual violence.

This event is FREE and open to the public, yet reservations are required due to space limitations.

The Awareness Center is the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Arrested in October, 2008 and charged with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child beginning in December 2001 at the 14th Ave.

Samet was arrested in 2007 on a charge of sexual misconduct, but the victim later refused to prosecute because of intense pressure from the Jewish community, police sources said. The case was later sealed.

An accused Brooklyn child molester charged with fondling a boy inside a Boro Park six years ago still frequents the kiddie-packed center, the Daily News has learned.

Arthur Samet, 48, was arrested in October and charged with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child beginning in December 2001 at the 14th Ave. YM-YWHA's Jacuzzi, according to court records.

The victim, now 19, came forward last fall to report the alleged crime.

Officials at the Y were stunned to learn of the alleged incident.

"This is the first time I am hearing about this," said Boro Park YM-YWHA directorEllie Kastel, who was shown court documents detailing the encounters by a News reporter.

"I am very disturbed that we weren't informed. It is very important to us to protect our children," Kastel said.

Asked if Samet will lose his membership, Kastel replied: "I will do what my lawyers tell me to do."

Samet was arrested in 2007 on a charge of sexual misconduct, but the victim later refused to prosecute because of intense pressure from the Jewish community, police sources said. The case was later sealed.

In the current case, investigators wanted to protect the victim from outside influence and did not officially notify the YMHA, sources said.

Prosecutors took up the case even though it was six years before the teen came forward, because state law gives child victims of sex abuse up to five years past their 18th birthday to tell authorities, said a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes.

The teen told investigators in October that Samet molested him inside the Y three times, between December 2001 and March 2002. At least one instance occurred while they both sat inside the Y's Jacuzzi, sources said. Samet refused to comment at a December court appearance. His lawyer, Richard Finkel, said Samet is a "family man."

The issue of molestation has become more visible in the insular Borough Park community in recent months because of several arrests. Samet is the third man charged with sexually or physically abusing a child.

CROWN HEIGHTS [CHI] — At 4:12pm, Friday, Erev Shabbos, a child called the Shomrim hotline asking for help. The child stated that he was just molested at the Empire Shtibel Mikvah and the perpetrator was still in the Mikvah.

Numerous Shomrim members arrived on the scene within seconds. After speaking to the child, they requested for Police to further investigate. The members had the suspect, a 23 year old Israeli, wait for Police.

The child told the Police what happened and the officers, then walked suspect to precinct, for further questioning by detectives.

After being interrogated at the precinct the suspect was formally arrested on charges pertaining to his crimes.

In case of an emergency never hesitate to call 911 and Shomrim at (718) 774-3333 24/7

FAIR USE NOTICESome
of the information on The Awareness Center's web pages may contain
copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically
authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available
in my efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political,
human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice
issues, etc.

I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such
copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright
Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on
this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.

For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use
copyrighted material from this update for purposes of your own that go
beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Subscribe to The Awareness Center's Newsletter

Translate

Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!